Rumsfeld assures ally that war is going well

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — In a bid to shore up America's most critical ally in the war against Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tried to reassure Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Sunday that the U.S. is making progress, but also made clear there would be no pause in bombing during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Speaking in Islamabad during a five-nation, four-day tour of the region, Rumsfeld struck an upbeat note, saying the Taliban's capacity to function has been severely diminished by the U.S. strikes.

"The Taliban is not really functioning as a government," he said.

Rumsfeld said the Taliban is trying to prevent U.S. strikes on their military targets by using mosques as military command centers and for storing ammunition and placing tanks near hospitals and schools. The Taliban is "actively lying about civilian casualties," he added.

At his earlier stop in Uzbekistan, Rumsfeld told reporters the anti-terrorist campaign was "proceeding at a pace that is showing measurable progress."

Pakistan on edge

That may not be enough to satisfy Pakistan, which is clearly nervous about the apparent lack of progress ahead of the mid-November start of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast and pray.

Musharraf has warned that sustained bombing through Ramadan may fuel unrest, but he has said he will not ask Washington to interrupt the campaign.

Musharraf's diplomacy illustrates the delicacy of his position as leader of the most strategically important, but potentially unstable nation in the anti-terrorist alliance against neighboring Afghanistan.

Musharraf's support of the U.S.-led battle has been unwavering, and he has allowed U.S. forces to use Pakistani bases.

But Musharraf repeatedly has promised his people that the Afghan conflict will be swift and short. Already, Pakistan is creaking dangerously under the strain of the bombing campaign, which has fired up the anger of Islamic militants and of Pashtun tribes living along Afghanistan's border.

Reports of civilian casualties and nightly news footage of devastated Afghan homes and villages also are swinging the sympathies of many ordinary Pakistanis firmly behind the Afghans, if not the Taliban.

"The whole operation must be finished quickly," said S.K. Tessler, minister of minorities and culture in Musharraf's Cabinet. "As time passes, sympathy for the Afghan people is increased, and this is going to add problems on us, and bring a lot of strain."

Domestic opposition to the bombings has been largely contained so far, and the numbers attending street demonstrations have dwindled since the violent protests that erupted in the immediate aftermath of the air strikes.

Arresting the opposition

Dozens of Islamic activists and leaders have been detained or placed under house arrest. Others have defied attempts by the government to outlaw their gatherings.

On Sunday, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of the right-wing group Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan's most influential Islamic party, was placed under house arrest to prevent him from addressing a protest rally. Hundreds of angry supporters gathered outside his home in the northwest frontier capital of Peshawar to protest his arrest.

The massacre a week earlier of 16 people at a Christian church offered a warning sign of the dangers that may lie ahead if Pakistan's religious tensions are inflamed.

In other signs of the potential for domestic upheaval, thousands of armed tribesmen from the remote Pashtun tribal have poured across the border during the past week to join the Taliban's fight, while others blocked the main road leading north out of Pakistan for six days, causing significant disruption in the region.

While in Tashkent on Sunday, Rumsfeld reportedly pressed Uzbekistan to reopen a bridge the Pentagon wants to use to move food and medical supplies to starving Afghans.

Rumsfeld told officials that opening the Friendship Bridge would allow tons of aid to reach refugees, senior military officials said.

The bridge spans the Uzbek-Afghan border about 20 miles north of Mazar-e Sharif and has been closed by Uzbekistan for four years. Uzbek officials told Rumsfeld that as long as the Taliban controls its side, the bridge will remain sealed.